Stranger In A Strange Land

Like Pinhead said in the Hellraiser movies, "I'll tear your soul apart!!!". Last night's ordeal at the Jacky Cheung's gig came fooking close to matching old Pinhead's threat. Close to 20,000 rabid Canto-pop fans converged at Bukit Jalil fer a typical show Hongkie stylie! (cue vigorous blowing of whistle & shaking of neon glow stick) . . .

By that I mean, there were the usual smoke bombs, fireworks, multitude of costume changes & an array of back-up shiny, sequined dancers. And I had to endure this torture fer almost FOUR fooking hours!!! Was able to not twitch around so much fer the first couple of hours but irritation crept in the third. When JC decided that his "encore" would last an hour and a half, I was ready to go fooking postal! And I mean postal with two M16s, an Uzi & a Magnum fer good measure!

You know how great music makes you feel goosebumps & transports yer very being to a higher plane? Well, this was at the extreme opposite end of the scale where me skin was crawling like there were a million bugs underneath it. I cringed when JC & co did a so-called 'rock' number much to the delight of the clueless crowd. I know I am being harsh but I have never had the displeasure of sitting through such uninspired tripe fer such a prolonged period!

Just to give you an idea of the constituency that JC draws his crowd from, behind me was seated a young teen who was there with his family. When JC asked the audience to clap along, this boy failed miserably in the timing of his claps. C'mon! This was as basic a 4/4 beat you could get & there were several thousand others to help you along but this musically retarded specimen found it difficult to follow . . . Fookin 'ell.

Bernard said he felt somewhat isolated at the Shakti gig at PWTC a few months back. Yes, you were one of the few non-Indians at the show but there were others. Imagine how fooking alienated I felt - 0.5 of an Indian among 20,000 Cina Ah Pek?!? Bloody hell, talk bout stranger in a strange land . . .

Speaking of Shakti, now that was a concert fer the ages - legendary guitarist John MacLaughlin sitting cross-legged on the floor jamming with supreme tabla thumper Zakir Hussain (plus a few other maestros thrown in fer good measure - will give full belated review sometime in future). As an antidote to last nite's musical nightmare, I have posted a classic Shakti video here fer your viewing pleasure (as well as fer me own recuperation). Now, that's what I call music . . .

PS: Yes, I admit I am an elitist prick when it comes to music. Deal with it . . .

PSS: Me wife enjoyed the gig & is thankful I accompanied her to it, so she shall be cooking me nice, wonderful mutton curry tomorrow as a show of appreciation . . .